The Ig Nobel Awards

Good grief. The Igs are this week. We almost missed them.

First of all, here's a list of past winners. You'll note that last year the biology prize was awarded to the team that discovered that a certain kind of beetle mates with a certain kind of Australian beer bottle. There are many other achievements of this nature that are honored by the awards.

Long acceptance speeches are not allowed at the Igs. To prevent them, Miss Sweetie Poo arrives at the podium after a minute has elapsed, announcing that she's bored. Why the Sweetie Poo idea hasn't caught on at other award ceremonies is beyond me.



A tip of the hat to Slate for starting us on this path.

More articles we didn't finish reading

These headlines are all real, directly copied from our RSS feed to here without editing. When we say we didn't read them, we mean it. They didn't exactly pull us in, for some reason...

• Eight things you didn’t know you could do with human sperm
  
• Japanese TV game show sprays pepper up contestants’ asses
  
• Slash Recalls Finding Mom Naked With David Bowie
  
• And Here Is a Dude Going Skydiving with His Anime Pillow Girlfriend
  
• He Wanted To Be A Football Ace And Ended Up A Ballet Star
  
  
  

More articles we didn't finish reading

These headlines are all real, directly copied from our RSS feed to here without editing. When we say we didn't read them, we mean it. They didn't exactly pull us in, for some reason...

• Rosie O’Donnell Had A Heart Attack After Helping A Fat Woman Out Of A Car, Her Words
  
• The only time it pays to be stabbed repeatedly happens to be during sex
  
• 7 Superpowers Available to Scientologists
  
• The King’s Skidmarks: Elvis’ crappy underpants go up for auction
  
• My Little Pony eBooks Exclusively On Nook
  
  
  

Articles we didn't bother reading

I think it's time for a new feature. These headlines are all real, directly copied from our RSS feed to here without editing. When we say we didn't read them, we mean it. They didn't exactly pull us in, for some reason...

• Batman Fashions That You Can Wear to the Office
  
  
• World's largest penis arouses suspicion in San Francisco airport
  
  
• “We took a rat apart and rebuilt it as a jellyfish.”
  
  
• Tube Of Goo Unappealing
  
  
• Eating Half-Rotten Wildebeest Legs
  
  
• Pieces of balloon boy saucer sold as trading cards
  
  

The amazing true story of the American Revolution

Or not, as the case may be.

First of all, we have Kermit the Frog to thank for getting the Boston Tea Party straightened out:



Those who maintain that a frog had nothing to do with the American Revolution know perfectly well that it was, in fact, a mouse who made all the difference. This Disney short seems all but forgotten nowadays:





Speaking of all but forgotten, we definitely should revisit "Stan Freberg Presents The United States of America, Volume One: The Early Years." The album feels really dated, but it's still funny. I used to play this for my family on all national holidays, until they threatened to disown me. (There's not much to watch on the video, just an LP spinning around on a turntable. If you have young kids, you might want to show it to them. They may never have seen such one of these.)



If the Revolution didn't happen any of the ways, we don't want to know about it!
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Popcorn shrimp (Swedish style)

The world's greatest (?) chef has at it.



How could I have missed this when it first came out? A tip of the CL hat to Disney by Mark.
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Star Wars recast

What we've got here is the radio play of Star Wars, performed by voice actors doing pretty much every voice you can think of from George Takei to Stimpy, changing roles after every scene. It takes a minute or two to go through the introductions and get started, but be patient. You will be rewarded.


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Believe the obvious

I learned three things last week. That there is only one restaurant specializing in fried anchovies in Brooklyn. That people who work in cubicles bemoan their loss of privacy. And a movie based on the game Battleship is unlikely to break box office records.

I was shocked, shocked to hear it. All of it.

This video has been making the rounds, but if you haven't seen it, well. it does Battleship one better. (Maybe they'll sell anchovies at the concession stand.)


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Elmo and Ricky Gervais

[Via Boing Boing]
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What, me worry?

Mad magazine is now 60 years old? Older than either the Stones or the Beach Boys?

It's probably hard to understand the significance and impact of Mad back in the day. When it first came out, it was mostly parodies of comics, irreverent and funny but not terribly important. But slowly and steadily kids took it to heart (as did a few adults), and by the 60s the magazine was parodying just about everything, still irreverent and funny, at a time when everything seemed to be ripe for parody. They took no sides (although whoever you were, you assumed they were with you); they would lambaste your favorite film or book or whatever with just as much glee as they would lambaste your least favorites. You could rely on the usual gang of idiots to do their job month after month, and they were, honestly, one of the few aboveground presses doing what they were doing. They were up front about it. And meanwhile, they were ostensibly for kids? There are those who say that the whole 60s thing was brought on, in part, by the attitude adjustments of youth as persuaded by Mad, and although they certainly weren't alone in this, they were definitely in it. It had to be the most subversive legitimate magazine of all time.

Topless Robot has collected The 30 Nerdiest Mad Magazine Covers. Maybe, maybe not. But as a snapshot of how iconic Alfred E. Neuman is, as he takes on other icons, it's right on.

Mad isn't what it used to be in influence. But if you happen to pick one up, you'll see that it is still irreverent and funny. What more do you want, anyhow?
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How to pick a college

Grinwout's has a close relationship with a lot of high school students, so the idea of picking the right college is an important one. Some Students occasionally work hard to get good grades to get into the school of their choice. So the school has to be the right one. Does it have the program that will get you into your chosen career? Does the school have a good record sending students on to prestigious postgraduate programs? Or most basic of all, can you afford the tuition?

Of course, there are other considerations. Witness 25 Insane Reasons Why Kids Don't Like Certain Colleges. Sometimes you decide against a school because the travel expenses are too great. Then again, from this list, there's a better reason: "Professors look like homeless people." That and 24 more reasons of similar depth.

Thinking about college soon? Or have a kid who's doing so? Get your excuses in line now!